Domiziana Eisner
March 9th, 2018
Schulze 1302
An Explosive Decision
Seventy-three years ago, the United States made the decision to drop an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Thus, August 6th, 1945 became an unforgettable, emotional, and controversial day for countries all over the globe. President Truman and Secretary of War, Edward Stinson, ordered this attack on the Japanese people. Fifty-one years later, authors Edward Linenthal and Thomas Engelhardt recount the controversy around the B-29 bomber that had caused such mass destruction and casualties in Japan. Their book, “History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past” makes sense of one of the most significant battles in world history by sharing the point of view of the veterans of this infamous time, as well as providing the point of view of various historians. The decision to drop the atomic bomb with the use of The Enola Gay aircraft was a significant turning point for World War II and the event’s consequences sparked debate for centuries to come.
In the early 1990s, the National Air and Space Museum located in Washington D.C. wanted to put in place a special exhibition to honor and remember World War II. The curators of the museum were convinced that featuring The Enola Gay at the very center of the exhibit would convey a powerful and necessary message. However, the museum was unprepared for all the controversy that would emerge around this decision. Moral and political questions began to surface. The museum wanted to portray the facts of the war by providing historical context rather than allowing a lot of room for interpretation (Linenthal, 25). Historians believed that an accurate portrayal of atomic warfare would be more beneficial to society since each upcoming generation will need to be properly informed on this historic event. Meanwhile, veterans, who strongly believed that the atomic bomb had saved their lives, argued that the decision to destroy two Japanese cities was a necessity. Consequently, veterans wanted to have their war stories shared in the exhibit to provide first hand recounts of the various emotions and motives involved on that impactful day in history. Admiral Leahy, an American naval officer active during World War II, states in his script, “the Japanese would have suffered five times as many casualties” (Linenthal, 56) if the atomic bomb had not been employed. The media also added to the controversy by judging the veterans’ and curators’ perspective on the atomic bomb without conducting in depth research and understanding. The journalists’ ignorance caused the media to provide poor insight into The Enola Gay controversy which negatively altered the public’s interpretation of the museum’s efforts (Linenthal, 50). The differences in perspectives, beliefs and moral values between the mentioned culture groups were the consequences for the culture wars that emerged during this time. However, in addition to the culture differences between defined groups of American citizens, the Vietnam war also influenced the controversy regarding The Enola Gay exhibit. Linthel’s book reads, “Since the United States had never before so clearly lost a war, patriotic orthodoxy after Vietnam was driven by…determination to redeem a lost cause” (Sherry, 98). Patriotic culture was under strain for the first time in United States history and veterans seeked victory in their own country. This change of focus lead to very demanding requests from revisionist regarding the installation of The Enola Gay exhibit. (Linenthal, 96-100). Thus, the Vietnam War added to the tension that was already accumulating in America and the controversy on The Enola Gay Exhibit was a way for different people to express their attitudes towards welfare.
The United States of America is a melting pot of different cultures, making controversy within its borders an inevitable part of its existence. However, The Enola Gay exhibit sparked more conversations, disagreement and tension than any other public museum artifact. It is important to note that public museums like the Smithsonian are funded by the citizen’s taxes. Consequently, the National Air and Space museum is owned by the people living in this country. American citizens and residents have the right to decide on how this exhibit will be displayed. However, the vast diversity between people within the United States makes it seemingly impossible to come to an agreement on such a politically and emotionally charged issue. In addition, the exhibit lead to so much tension, because culture groups disagreed on whether The Enola Gay was a necessity. The decision to use the atomic bomb in warfare caused the death of over 150,000 Japanese civilians, including children. The extremely high death toll of this massive attack inevitably caused people to grow sensitive, angry and questioning. Although many culture groups had their own visions of how The Enola Gay exhibit should be displayed, some individuals tried to quash the exhibit altogether. For instance, Robert Dole, a Republican politician and World War II veteran, travelled to the city of Indianapolis to confront the American Legion on its destruction to America’s unity. He even distressed his opposition to The Enola Gay exhibit claiming that the museum had portrayed the Japanese as victims rather than aggressors (Linenthal, 3-4). Another figure who wanted to quash The Enola Gay exhibit was Thomas A. Ferguson, Ohio’s state auditor, who wanted to see the artifact installed in the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio rather than in D.C., because he believed that the Smithsonian did not have the initial intention of restoring the aircraft (Linenthal 13-14). Walter Boyne, an air force veteran, was also opposed to the Enola Gay exhibit, because he was convinced that citizens “did not have an adequate understanding with which to view it”(Linenthal 14). Seemingly, a few individuals were against the instillation of the exhibit as a whole, but nevertheless, an accumulation of revisions and confrontations allowed for a final script to be established in 1995.
In January of 1995, The Enola Gay exhibit became available to the public in the National Air and Space Museum Center in the Smithsonian. The artifact is surrounded by 170 other important and historic aircrafts. It took nine years for The Enola Gay to establish its permanent home in D.C. As a student that just recently has come to learn a great deal on the Enola Gay exhibit controversy, I thought it was admirable how many times the Smithsonian revised its script. The first script was called “The Crossroads: The End of World War II, the Atomic Bomb, and the Origins of the Cold War” and it emphasized destruction and fear. Within the script there were five sections. One section depicts the final year of World War II, another describes the experiences of bomb pilots, the next questions the necessity of the atomic bomb, the fourth section portrays the destroyed lands and the final section introduces the Cold War that would emerge immediately after World War II (Linenthal, 28-32). It would seem that, it is a positive accomplishment that the exhibit was put together, because preserving artifacts of such great importance need to be shared. In addition, this suggests that it is equally as important to portray the historical facts as well as the stories told by those who lived through the particular event. Since the museum is run by the taxes of citizens, the people own the museum. For this reason, it was important for museum planners to be flexible to changes and to listen openly to the controversy around the exhibit. It is the responsibility of the people to conduct enough research to form an opinion for themselves on whether or not dropping the atomic bomb was necessary to end World War II. Author John W. Dower supports the idea that The Enola Gay Exhibit needed to provide political correctness to ensure that as few people as possible are offended (Dower, 75). It seems like his outlook on this controversial issue is the most appealing, because he weighs both the emotional and the historical components of World War II. In fact, Dower recognizes that the war was build upon vengeance and racism (Dower, 86). It is clear that the use of nuclear warfare brought many challenges, but by using the perspective of time and the abundant access to historical context available, rethinking the past is a task everyone can and should engage in.
The Enola Gay exhibit became controversial because the decision that the United States made to drop two atomic bombs on Japanese civilians lead to various emotions for different people. Many were unsure that the bombing was necessary since countless firebombing attacks were already underway. Tokyo was nearly destroyed in March of 1945 due to these attacks. It was becoming more evident each day that Japan troops were growing weaker and would soon surrender. For this reason, many Americans were deeply angered by the use of the atomic bomb. Meanwhile, others, like veterans who pleaded that the war would soon come to an end, were thankful for the decision that was made (Dower, 77-78).